Emily Atack has revealed she wants to make a documentary on intimacy coordinators after working with them on the Disney+ series ‘Rivals’, describing the shift they’ve brought to film and television sets as both necessary and positive, reports Female First UK.
The 35-year-old actress, who fronted the 2023 BBC documentary ‘Emily Atack: Asking for It?’ about online sexual harassment, told Radio Times magazine: “I want to do one on intimacy coordinators, and I’m going to start having conversations about it soon. I’ve seen people roll their eyes about them and say, ‘I don’t need one’. There’s a defensiveness about it, because they feel like they’re being accused of something they haven’t even done yet. Intimacy coordinators are there for support if you feel uncomfortable, whether you’re a man or a woman.”
Reflecting on her own experiences, Emily admitted: “I’ve been sexually assaulted at work throughout my career, whether it’s on the actual set or at a wrap party and since the #MeToo movement, it shows that people are listening and that there has to be a shift in behaviour on sets.”
The actress praised the team behind ‘Rivals’, adapted from Dame Jilly Cooper’s novel, which was widely well-received when it aired last year. “I’m really proud of the Rivals gang because, throughout my life, I haven’t felt safe all the time, and we’re all so respectful of each other. We have to do a lot of sexual scenes and we’re very looked after. It’s a really positive thing,” she said.
Emily is currently starring in Channel 5’s new drama ‘The Rumour’, about a convicted child killer believed to be hiding in a small town. Playing a mother in the series carried special significance for the actress, who had given birth to her son Barney, now 14 months, with fiancé Alistair Garner, shortly before filming began.
“I’d given birth 10 weeks before filming, so I was exhausted, emotional and still in agony from my caesarean, but it was really about getting back on the horse,” she explained. “Before, I’d be like, ‘How do I play a mum? How do I make it look believable that I love this child?’ In ‘The Rumour’, my fake son Liam was so sweet. I did even the tiny things, like getting him off to school, putting his bag on and adjusting his coat, with heartfelt emotion, because they really mean something now I have my own son.”
